Rod licence evasion is at its highest in the Thames region, it has been revealed.According to comprehensive figures published by the EA, in the past twelve months 8.6% of the 13,191 anglers in the region who were asked to produce a valid rod licence could not do so.

The Midlands was home to the second largest incidence of offenders at 5.5%, followed by the southern region (5.1%) and the north west (4.9%).

At the other end of the scale was the anglian region, where just 2.9% of the 18,854 anglers checked in 2010/2011 didn’t have a licence, marginally better than the south west region, where 3% were unable to produce the document.

In total, the EA performed 94,203 licence checks nationwide, and the overall evasion rate stood at 5%